About Me

Keeping my art on track is taking second place, as is trying to throw some good pots, and knitting, weaving and dyeing with natural dyes.

ABOUT ME

Historically, I have not gotten to a location by a straight route, or by single-minded persistence. I've traveled extensively in the US and Europe, lived in Greece and Am. Samoa, and am determined to improve my French so that I can speak, and write, (almost) like a native. This is definitely not an easy task, although I am progressing. I specialize in inventing words and making new and different grammatical errors.

PHILOSOPHY

Live life with no regrets. Don't put off forever something you'd really like to do, hurt people, burn bridges, or forget to tell people you care about them.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I hosted people coming through the Tri-Cities, and participated on forums now and then. I surf sometimes when I'm traveling.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

All of my contacts with people from CS have been really positive.

Interests

Foreign & independent films, French language, software design, hiking in the mountains, puzzles, code, art/sculpture especially clay, fiber arts (knitting, spinning, weaving, dyeing). I've recently been recycling the wool from sweaters, which I sometimes dye before knitting it up again. I love spinning and have knit some hats from llama wool that I have spun.

arts

design

festivals

movies

traveling

puzzles

knitting

coding

hiking

software

mountains

Music, Movies, and Books

My favorite film of the moment is "Quartet," Dustin Hoffman's first directorial effort, which I think was pretty near perfect.

I'm feeling lazy, and have not recently read any novels in French (I have the last Harry Potter book to go) and instead am borrowing audio books from the library and listening to them while I knit. The current passion is socks.

That is, until I came to Georgia with the Peace Corps. Now I study Georgian, try to do a good job teaching English, and not mess up too bad culturally.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I dove in Palau and saw a forest of 6 ft. tall orange sea fans all oriented in the same direction. I walked to the edge of a reef and snorkled along Ngmelis Wall. The small bright-colored reef fish, groupers, sharks, sea turtles, were all arrayed below me along the wall, which dropped off precipitously to a deep, deep blue. The wall itself was covered with tiny creatures, fish and corals. It was magic, on both micro and macro scales.

Teach, Learn, Share

I know a lot about film, was president of the local film club, and went to the Seattle International Film Festival for many years. For 10 years I was a member of a software development group, doing user interface design and usability, retiring in 2010.

If you want to learn with me about spinning, dyeing with natural dyes, or knitting, I know something about them. I am a member of Desert Fiber Arts Guild in the Tri-Cities and could introduce you to some wonderful, knowledgeable, generous people, should you encounter me there.

I've traveled alone by motorcycle through Europe, gone overland by bus from Turkey to Nepal and lived abroad for extended periods of time. In 2010, I walked some 400 km or so (mostly up or down, rarely on the flat) through the French Alps. For 2.5 weeks in 2011, I worked on a French archaeology project studying petroglyphs in the French Alps. I look forward to an archaeology survey project in Mongolia in May 2015.

As I said, I'm presently in the Republic Georgia, not the Tri-Cities. I'll see if I can manage to change my location on couchsurfing.com.

What I Can Share with Hosts

Travel stories; what it's like for a single woman to travel alone for extended periods. I'll probably have a knitting project with me.